Peeping apparatus for condensers



June 24, 1930. v A, c, HEM 1,768,449

FEEDING APPARATUS FOR GONDENSERS Filed Oct. 1,1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 $3 (a) m g INVENTOR IE] :2 Q a I A/zaMfeC/ euzy BY A W MVW ATTORNEYS June24, 1930. A. c. HEINY FEEDING APPARATUS FOR CONDENSERS Filed Oct. 1, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR 61 1056 [7/0075 BY Wm WM WIJ 2w ATTORNEYS Patented -June- 24,1930

1 UNITED STA res. rnrsnr -orrlcs.

7 new am, or ninenrmtn rm, nnw'mnsmz; Assmnon T0 -D'UB1I|IEB oon'nmsna' coaromrron, or new YORK,1\T. Y., A coarom'rron or nnmwnnn rnnnme nrranarus FOR "con'mmsnns Application filed October 1, 1925. Serial m. 59,882. i

, 'Thisdnvention relates to mechanism for feeding condensers; and has for one of its objects to feed finished condensers oi constant ca 'acity automatically under the 'stamps 0 one or more stamping machines,

from a common trough or hopper into which theoondensers are thrown in large numbers at 'a time, to stamp upon them their. various identification marks such as, type, number, capacit etc. t 1

Anot erobject" of the invention is to provide apparatus' for supplying such condensers to suchfstamping ma h'uefes one by one at a rate equal to the speed 0 the stamping machines.

' And. still a such apparatus so as to separate or-remove any defective condensers, so that only good condensersbe fed into the stamping ma- 2o chines.

Furtherobjects and advantages of this invention willbecome apparent'in the course of this description taken with the accompanying drawings in which '25 Figure 1-- is a vertical'mid-sectional v\riew of a ho per'intewhich theicondensers are 'droppe and of the dischal' e way, from the hopper to lead the condens rs to the segregator of the apparatus;

3o 3 Figure 2isjapartial front end view of Figure,,3=is a partial. rear end view of same; i

Figure 4 same; Figure 5 is a partial top plan view of the transferring conveyor connecting the hopper to the segregator;

Figure 6 is a vertical mid-sectional View of 4 thesegregator, anda transverse vertical sectional view ofthe delivery conveyors which carry the condensers to' the" stamping ma Figure is aparti'al top plan view of .45 same;

ure- 6, looking downward; Figure 9 is a section on ure 6 looking upward;..

5.0 Figure 10 is a partia l mid sectionali'view another object. is to construct.

a partial top plan :view of- "g Figure 8iis 'a sectionon line 8 8 of Figi. line 9-9 bf FigQ M, as will be explained later."

of the lower feed roller and the trap-door at the-bottom of the segregator, I

Beferring'to Figures 1 and 6, the apparatus is comprised of a hopper 1 at top-3 a discharge way2 a chute 3 a transferring conveyor comprising the carrier belts 4, 5 and 6; a segregator, 7 which terminates" at I the bottom in a trap-door 8-directlylocated under the selector feed-box!) from which the condensers are guidedaccordjng totheir .sition-of right side up or right side down in the 'segreg'ator 7. to .j either one' or I the other of the delivery or conveyors .10' and-1.1, running to. the stamping machines,.or when defective,-i into the magazine Alithese various parts and devicesofthe.

- whole apparatus are located betweenitwo supports 12 and'13. The hopper 1 at the top is formed by fourinclined transverse boards 14, 15, 16-and. 1 7, and two sliding shaker boards 18 and 19.,;see Figures 1 2, 3

'and'4. The boards 18 and- 1 9whichpass through the two supports 12' and 13- are rovided on. their upper'faces with; a hum-- er of short protruding studs or pegs 20, the object of which is to displace and, to movetoand-fro the heap of condensers asthese ,are thrown upon them with each to-andfro motion of boards 18 and 19. -This m0- any well known mechanical means, such as, for example by a rocker arm'21-and a bar 22 (see Figures 1 and 2) which can'be-at tached to any convenient source of power, not necessary to 'be. shown in thisjspecification.'-

1 At the bottom of the hopper there is a tion may be imparted the-shaker boards by discharge way- 2 including the rectangular outlet opening 24 of a length equalto the distance between the two suppo 13 and of a width slightly largerthan the thickness of the thickest condensers to be stamped As the condensers in the hopper 1 are shaken by, the pegs 20, they pass into the opening 24 and into a small channel 25 rts 12 and for med by boards 15 and '17 along which they slidetowards another small channel 26 set at right. angles to channel. 25 and formed by two boards-15- and 17 alsdfixedly set between the supports 12 and 13. But the condensers are not free to fall from hopper 1 into channel 25. They are hindered in their fall by means of flexible pins 27 set fixedly in a rotating drum 28 supported by a shaft 29 passing'through the supports 12 and 13, the drum rotating as per arrow 29. The pins are so arranged on the drum that each condenser on arriving at the bottom of channel is bound to come into contact with one or another of the pins; but the pins are not'stifl' enough to force the condensers back. They are, however, stifi' enough to hold the condensers momentarily stationary, yetflexible enough to bend while passing over the condensers. Then assoon as these pins have passed over a condenser, the latter is then free to fall into channel 26.

Directly below the channel 26 are located a corrugated ,leather'or semi-soft rubber covered drum 30 and a conveyor-belt 31 having respectively. corrugations 32 and cleats 33. The drum and conveyor move respectivel as per arrows 34 and 35 and with equa speed in order to maintain an interval between and prevent jamming of the condensers within the chute. Thus, as' illustrated,'the condensers are caused to follow one another, one by one; and one by one they fall into the chute 3 to slide alongthe bottom 36 thereof upon one of the belts 4, 5 and 6, which travel as per arrows 37 and are-driven, belts 5 and 6 by rollers 38 and 39, and belt 4 by rollers 38 and 40.

Rollers 38, 39 and 40 are respectively and fixedly mounted on shafts 41, 42 and 43 supported by the supports 12- and 13. The shaft 42 is the main operating shaft for all the above mentioned devices. It receives its driving power by means of a pulley 44 from a source of power not shown. Through the roller 39 and the two belts 5 and 6 itdrives the roller 38, which actuates the belt 4, and through the shaft 41 of roller 38, and pulley-44, fixedly mounted on one end of shaft 41, and belt 45 it also drives the belt 31; and through pulley. 46, also fixedly mounted on the other end of shaft 41, and belt 47 the drum 30 is revolved. Drum 28 is rotated by a pulley 48, set on the upper shaft of the belt 31, and a belt 49 and a pulley 50 fixedly set on. the shaft 29 of the drum 28.

When the condensers fall upon the belts 4, 5 and 6, they will at first lie in various positions. Some of them will fall straight on the belt 4, i. e. with their lengths along or nearl along the length of the belt, and thus will carried directly by the belt (into mouth 51 at the top of the segregator 7 (Figure 6).. Other condensers which may have fallen on belts 5 or 6, or belts 4 and 5, or belts 4 and 6, must be'pushed entirely over upon the belt 4,to be carried to the segregator 7. To this end there. is set transversely over belts 4, 5 and 6 aboard 52 resting on the supports 12 and 13. This board'has on its underside a number of pins or stops 53 which extend downwardly to near the upper surface of the belts 5 and 6," but there are no pins over the belt 4. As will be seen in Figure 5, showing the contour of the board 52 in dotted lines, any condenser that does not lie straight alongithe belt 4 as explained, is bound to come'into contact with one or another of the pins53. By doing so, it is swung around by the pin and pushed entirely over upon the belt 4, which will then-carry it along without further hindrance from any other pins 53 if it has been swung to bring its length into line with the length of the belt 4; but if it has not been so swung, it will then come into contact with one or the other side of a gorge pas.- sage formed by two guides 54 and 55 set diagonally across belts 5 and. 6 respectively,

and attachedto the supports 12 and 13 respectively, adjacentthe upper end of the segregator .7. also downwardly over belts 5 and 6 but without coming into contact with, them. The board 52, pins 53 and guides 54 and 55 thus constitute an alining device for the condensers.

In construction, the condensers may be of the type shown in the patent to William Dubilier, No. 1,497,095, granted June 10th, 1924, for example. They are shown as comprising two cover plates of insulation 1), enclosing a stack 8 of thin sheets or plates of metal, the stacks and the cover plates 5 being held together by clips 0 at the ends, these cli s gripping the 'two cover plates 5 and stac s between them, and held in place by eyelet rivets e. The sheets or plates of metal in the stack 8 are all insulated from each other and parts are connected to one of The guides 54 and55 extend the clips 0; while the remaining sheets of metal are connected with the clip at the other end of the condenser; the sheets orplates of metal thus being divided 11130 two groups insulated from each other. Connected to each clip 0 is aconductor fastening lug I.

It will be noticed in Figures 1 and 6 that somecondensers have been shown with their conductor fastening lugs Z on their under ers with their lugs Z down will be explained further 011.

When the condensers fall into the segregator mouth 51 they drop immediately into possibility for some condensers to issuefrom the hopper 1 either slightly faster or slower than the peripheral speed of roller 57 will send them towards the stamping machines.

If they arrive slower then there will be no harm done, but if they come faster or in a greater number than the roller can move in a given time, they will gradually fill up channel 56 and may even pile up on top of one another in the mouth 51. It is not probable that such an eventuality will ever happen if the speed of roller 57 is well timed with the average drop of the condensers from the hopper, but as the operation depends, so to say, on too many unknown factors resulting from the pell-mell throwing of the condensers into the hopper, provision must be made so that when any clogging of condensers takes place in the mouth 51, to prevent the lowest condenser from sliding into the channel 56, such a condition must immediately be corrected. Hence there is located directly at the throat of the mouth 51 a shaker 58 and between the throat and the upper end of channel 56 a disc 59, bothof which are inter-connected by means of a device 60 including gear teeth which makes them oscillate in unison and always in opposite directionsto relieve momentary congestion in the mouth 51.

The device 60 is composed of a rack 61' fixedly attached to the under face of the shaker 58, a gear segment 62 fixedly mounted on the pivotpin 63 of the shaker-disc 59,

a pinion 64 fixedly mounted on a'shaft 65 supported'by a part of the bottom 66 of the channel 56 and a smaller fixed transverse support 67, a crank-arm 68 fixedly mounted on the lower end of-shaft 65, and a crankbar 69 attached by one end to cfrank-arm 68 and by the other to any kind of a reciprocating device which neednotbe shown but which is designed to'operate as required by the other parts of the apparatus. The

' shaker-disc 59 has in its upper surface a dered through said channel 70 into channel 56, and yet, even if piling up, one behind the other, cannot become wedged side by side in the channel, and thus be prevented from freely sliding down the channel 56 towards the roller 57. Channel 56 terminates into the selector-feed box 9 of the same width as the channel. This box contains the controlling member or roller 57, also the similar member or roller 73. Both have a semi-soft cover, such assoft leather, canvas, rubber, etc. These rollers mounted on shafts 74 and 75 passing through oblong holes 76 and 77 cut in the sides of the box to permit the rollers to rise orfall as the different thickness of the condensers may require. On one end of those shafts are fixedly are respectively mounted gears 78 and 79 meshing with and controlled by a gear 80 mounted on a shaft 81 which also passes through both sides of box 9 and which has at its other end a sprocket wheel 82, or other driving device, connected to a source of power also not shown and which too may, or may not be the same as that operatingthe other parts of the apparatus. Gear 79 is slightly smaller than gear 78; roller 73 has therefore a slightl greater peripheral speed than roller 57 so t at no condenser that may pass from under roller 57 shall do so while the trap-door 8 is in open position, for a reason which will presently be explained. The parts 58 and 59 are set so as to be flush with the bottom of the channel 56.

Trap-door 8, (Figures 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) is set directly below roller 7 3 and is in prolongation of the floor of channel 56, on which it is fastened by a hinge 83 having .two integral arms 84 and 85, (Figures 6 and 9). Below the floor of the flue or channel 56 is fixedly mounted a solenoid S, the plunger of which is joined by a link 86 to the arms 84 and ofhinge 83. A strong spring 87 around the plunger of solenoid S holds the trap-door 8 in closed position whenever solenoid S is not'operated. Trapdoor 8 is provided on its upper surface with four contact springs 87, 88, 88*.and 89,

which have their electrical connections'or binding posts at the under side of the door at respectively, 87 88, 88 and 89. Centrally on the front end board of controller box' 9 is fixedly set a feather spring contact 90'which extends downwardly in the line of passage of every condenser passing with lugs I turned up. 1 a

Below the lower end of trap door 8 is located a trap-pocket 90 swinging on a bracket hinge 91 fixedly attached to the under side of the floor 92 of a receptacle 93.

Trap-pocket 90 has two sides '94 and 95,v

the lnner surfaces of which are flush and in line with the innerjsurfaces of receptacle 93, the width of which is equal to that of channel 56 and mouth 51 and in direct line those of guideway 7, (Figure 5). The front and rear walls 96 and 97 of the pocket 9O with the side-walls 94 and 95 complete the trap-pocket, which has for object to turn every condenser which falls into it to a right-side-up position, and then pass it down the receptacle 93 to the delivery conveyor 11, as will be explained later.

This trap-pocket 90 hinged at 98 to bracket-hinge 91, has an integral arm 99 extending downwardly, and joined by a link 100 to the plunger 101 of a solenoid S fixedly mounted on the underside of the receptacle 93. The outer or rear surface of wall 97, when-the pocket 90 is closed, is flush or even with the rear 103 of the receptacle 93, which lies at an angle of about forty-five degrees with a partition or wall 104, placed a slight distance below the lower end of trap door 8. This wall forms the magazine M for defective condensers at the 1 bottom of the apparatus and serves at the same time as bottom brace for the support ,12 and 13. When trap-pocket 90 is closed, 4 its lower front wall 96 lies ina recess 105 out in the upper surface of the bottom 92 of the receptacle 93, the bottom 92 being flush with the upper or inner surface of this wall 96.

The electrical connections of these various devices are as follows. One side of a source of power or battery B is connected by a wire W to the binding post 87. The other side of battery B branches off from a wire W by branches w, w and w respectively to one side of a switch actuating solenoid S one side of the solenoid S actuating the trap-pocket 90, and one side of the solenoid 'S actuating the trap-door 8. The other side of solenoid S has a wire w which branches off by a wire w to binding post 88, and by At the bottom of plunger 111 of solenoid S is fixedly attached a disc 112 of insulating material on the underside of which is aflixed lug strikes the spring 90 before the underside of the condenser clip on which the lug is riveted comes into contact With spring 89. Therefore as soon as the cl1p comes into contact with spring 87 an electric circuit is established through wire W, spring 87, the for-- of the condenser on which the forward lug Z is riveted has come into contact with spring 89, and thus trap door 8 is forced to stay closed because the circuit from spring 89 to solenoid S is open at switch 107 and thus the condenser is pushed forward upon either slideway 114 or 115 as will be explained further on. But if now a condenser, comes withits lugs Z on the under side, the lug will first come into contact with spring 87 and thus establish the following electrical circuit. From batteryB along wire'W to post 87 spring 87 lug of condenser to spring 89 and binding post 89, wire w" to binding post 110, bridge 113 to post 106 (solenoid S being then inoperative), along wire to to solenoid S and then by wires w and W back to battery B; at the same time also by branch wires w? and 10 to solenoid S and then back to battery B by wire w ,'w and W Both solenoids S and S are thus energized at the If now comes a defective condenser, i. e.,.

a condenser which is short-circuited interiorly and thus will let an electric circuit to be established between both end clips, then the following electric circuit will be established. When such a condenser arrives under roller 73, either in the right orthe wrong position, the under-sides of the clips come into contact with springs 87, .88 and 88 before the front lug Z, if on the underside, is able to come into contact with spring 89, (and if the lug is on the upper side and comes into contact with spring 90 so much the better), and thus there will be established the following circuit. From battery'B along wire W to binding post 87 and spring 87, through from front clip to rear clip," from rear clip to spring 88 and binding post 88, alongwires w and w to solenoid S and return to battery by wires w 'w and W; also at the same time from rear clip to spring 88? and binding post 88 along wire w which connects binding post 88 to wire w (wire w is only partially shown in Figure 6), along wire 20 to solenoid S and return to battery by wires w and W thus energizing solenoid S and opening switch 107 which will prevent trap pocket 90" from being opened at the same time with trap door 8-. Thus defective condensers will slide over the rear 103 of the receptacle 93 and the back face of trap-pocket 90 into magazine M.

One of the objects of this invention, as said above, is to automatically feed finished condensers to one or more stamping machines. In Figure 6 there is actually shown a method of feeding condensers to two such stamping machines by means of two separate delivery conveyors 10 and 11. These conveyors in reality need not be located, as shown in the drawings, one above the other. They can, in fact, be placed on the same plane parallel one to the other with the necessary distance between them, each having then, of course, its chute 93 and slideway 114 respectively, as shown. Conveyor 10 would, of course, receive then only all the condensers which enter channel 56 with their lugs on the upper side, and conve or 11 would receive all the condensers, whic enter the flue 56 with their lugs on the underside. All the probabilities are that both conveyors would receive an equal number of condensers. There are, however, contingencies when one or the other of the stamping machines would become inoperative. Supposing the stamping machine fed by conveyor 10 become inoperative, then all the condensers to be stamped would be shifted over on conveyor 11, and for this purpose slideway 114 would be replaced by a chute more or less in the form of chute 115. If, on the other hand, the stamping machine fed by conveyor 11 should becomeinoperative, then receptacle 93 can be replaced by a longer one passing over the conveyor 11 to conveyor 10 and curved to bring its mouth to the side of that of slideway 114.

Neither of conveyors 10 and 11 needs any special description, both being of the conventional type and made of a continuous corrugated and flexible belt 120 operated by the ordinary means of rollers mounted on shafts supported by the vertical supports 121 and 122. v 1

This invention may of course be utilized for feeding manufactured articles, other than condensers, which require to be arranged in correct position for stamping or other finishing operations.

Having described my invention, what I believe to be new and desire to secure and protect by Letters Patent of States is 1. Feeding mechanism comprising parts enclosing a channel having a mouth, a shaker having a trough therein with flaring ends adjacent said mouth, and parts for rotating the shaker, to control the passage of articles into said trough and through said channel.

the United tacts carried by said door, electric circuits connected to the contacts, and electrical appliances in said circuits to cause the trap door to open when required, together with a trap-pocket below the trap-door, and electric circuits and electric appliances therein to cause said pocket to receive inverted articles delivered thereto from said channel and turn them over to right position.

4. Feeding mechanism comprising parts forming a channel, a slideway in line with the channel, a receptacle below the slideway, a trap-door in the bottom of the channel in advance of the slideway to enable the channel to discharge into the receptacle, electrical appliances and circuits for opening the trap-door when an inverted article passing through the channel arrives at said trapdoor, and delivery conveyors adjacent the slideway and the receptacle, together with a movable trap pocket below the trap-door, and additional appliances and circuits to' open the trap-pocket and control admission ANATOLE C. HEINY. 

